91Èȱ¬

Captain Chris Robshaw has defended his decision to turn down several penalty kicks at goal in England's 20-14 defeat by Australia at Twickenham.

Thomas Waldrom went close to scoring after England kicked for touch, but lost control of the ball on the line.

"If Tom Waldrom gets that ball down it is a huge momentum shift," the England captain insisted.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if we had taken those points it could have been a different result."

The England captain said they were decisions for himself "and the other game leaders to look back on".

He added: "It is easy to have ifs and buts after the game. We will have a sulk after this game but you have to learn quickly."

Head coach Stuart Lancaster felt the decisions to either kick for touch or tap and go in search of a try while trailing 20-14 were correct.

"We'll look at every decision but with the momentum at the time I thought it was the right decision," he said.

"You back your players on the field. The momentum was with us and I thought from there we were going to score a try.

"If we are going to give players the confidence to go out and play then we have to back them."

Lancaster admitted the defeat was hard to take, given the number of opportunities missed by England.

"They are all must-win games," he added. "We're devastated to have lost this game. We didn't quite take our opportunities and at this level we must take it. They managed the breakdown better."

Lancaster's opposite number, Robbie Deans, said he could understand England's decision not to opt for penalty goals.

"They wanted to win the game. We had been competitive in field position. You make those decisions in real time and that was an indication of what they were feeling in the contest."